This is a horrifying novel told from the perspective of an abused woman. It alternates between after leaving him and changing her identity to “Before,” when she and their two sons were together or trying to work things out. Most of the novel she is scared of everyone and everything, or sees every bruise as evidence of abuse. And while that may be how victims feel, it made for horrible listening. I couldn’t wait for the book to end. While the ending was somewhat a surprise, I wouldn’t call it a delicious twist. I found it difficult to listen to and not sure to whom I could recommend it. Yet, it was certainly engaging, like an accident on the side of the road.
My thanks to the author, publisher, producer, and #NetGalley for access to the audiobook of #BeneathTheseWalls for review purposes. Publication date: 2 March 2025.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆ (4/5 Stars)

Beneath These Walls is an emotionally intense domestic thriller that slowly builds into a suspenseful, twist-filled ride. While the book is marketed as a thriller, it leans heavily into the themes of domestic violence, trauma, and survival, making it just as much a psychological drama as it is a mystery. Readers should be aware that this story contains heavy trigger warnings, particularly regarding domestic abuse and psychological manipulation.

The story follows Alice, a woman escaping her abusive husband with her two sons. Moving into an old Victorian home left to her by her uncle, she hopes to start fresh in a small, quiet town. But soon, strange events begin to unfold—her uncle’s eerie reputation, unsettling occurrences in the house, and a town that watches her every move. What starts as an emotional survival story eventually shifts into a full-blown thriller, especially in the last third of the book, where the tension really picks up.

The narration by Amanda Davidson was absolutely fantastic. She brought an eerie, suspenseful quality to the story, perfectly capturing Alice’s paranoia and the slow-building dread that makes you question everything. Her performance kept me engaged, even when the pacing in the first half felt slower than I expected.

Overall, Beneath These Walls is a gripping read for those who enjoy domestic thrillers with heavy emotional depth. If you go into it expecting a thriller with deep psychological tension rather than nonstop action, you’ll find it rewarding. However, due to the intense subject matter, I highly recommend checking trigger warnings before reading.

Thank you to NetGalley, Red Raven Publishing, and Shade Owens for the opportunity to review this audiobook!

Alice, a newly single mom of two boys, has recently escaped her abusive husband by changing all of their names and moving across the country into the old mansion left to her by her deceased estranged uncle. Going by the name Emma in this new town, something just feels off with the house and citizens of this small town. When Emma starts finding threatening notes in her home, she knows that she isn't going crazy -- something is wrong and they are in danger. Who is behind all of this? How did they find them?

I enjoyed both the storyline and the performance of this audiobook. This book was full of surprises that all came together at the end. Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an exclusive listen of this audiobook!

Behind These Walls by Shade Owens was an engaging and suspenseful read that kept me captivated from start to finish. The story was layered with intrigue, well-developed characters, and unexpected twists that made it hard to pause. The audiobook narration added depth to the storytelling, making the experience even more immersive. Fans of psychological thrillers will definitely enjoy this one!

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook.

This is an audiobook review. 🎧

From the description, you know the female main character is fleeing from her husband and she is paranoid the whole book. You feel the angst, her rationalizing the abuse, her emotional distress, and the suspense is exacerbated by the narrator who has a breathy melodic tone in almost a whisper. The writing is descriptive and the narrating was well done, which added to the suspense. 😬

There is a dual timeline and the majority of the story is from the fleeing mother/wife’s point of view. In the end, there is a surprising plot twist. 🤯 I appreciate the happy ending-she survives and keeps her children safe. If you like a female main character who finds a quiet strength to overcome adversity, pick up this book! 📖 Now available on KU.

Thank you Netgalley, Red Raven Publishing and Shade Owens for the audio Arc of Beneath These Walls.
Narrated by Amanda Davidson

Beneath These Walls is an intriguing slow burn domestic thriller with some nicely played out twists. The plot is medium paced overall with some slow burn which sets the tone of being atmospheric and psychological. The first 2/3 of the book is told by Alice, who has suffered domestic abuse ( DA ) and is on the run with her children. when Alice inherits her Uncles old house, there is another mystery that is uncovered. Alice is concerned that someone is watching her house as she keeps finding mysterious notes and is frightened her past is catching ups with her. There is a section of another POV which slots very nicely into the narrative.I will be looking forward to reading more of Shade Owen's books in the future.

This book was narrated by Amanda Davidson who did a great job with narrating this book

4 stars

I very much enjoyed this suspenseful thriller. Great narration and an interesting storyline as well. Keeps you interested and waiting to see how things work out. Two timelines that make sense. Well written.

Title: Beneath These Walls
Author: Shade Owens
Format: 🎧
Narrator: Amanda Davison
Publisher: Red Raven Publishing
Genre: Mystery/Thriller, Domestic Violence
Audiobook Pub Date was: March 3, 2025
My Rating: 2.5 Stars
Pages 383

Story is told by Alice Reminton before and now.

Alice and James have two children baby Lucas and preschooler Grayson.
James is an abusive alcoholic bully who hurts Alice both mentally and physically.
James is easy to hate with this foul language and horrible behavior.

Alice knows she needs to protect herself and her boys but she doesn’t know how or where to go. James has warned her will kill her if she ever runs. She is fearful of his rages but he changes personality the day after a blow up and Alice is hoping their marriage will work.
Of course, he doesn’t change.
I had a hard time connecting with Alice. I felt sorry for her and knew she needed to leave her abusive husband. However since this was an audiobook I grew tired of her whinny voice as well as her profanity.
She finally is able to move out and changed her name to Emma Collins. The boys now are Lucan – seven and Grayson - fourteen year old Grayson
Alice/Emma has inherited an old Victoria home from her uncle.
She and her sons finally feel safe as it is far away from James. However soon after she moves in -she finds out the house has a reputation.
Mysterious things happen- Alice/Emma suspects someone is sneaking into the house and fears it is James.
The ending was surprise – not a shock but something I didn’t’ see coming.
Beside the excessive foul language and the slow pace, I found myself struggling but my curiosity got the best of me and I hung in there.

Thank you to NetGalley and Red Raven Publishing Books for this audiobook.
Audiobook Publishing Release Date was March 3, 2025.

3.5*...This domestic thriller was an interesting ride. It followed a fairly typical pattern of abuse and escaping the situation, and all the things you'd expect to come after. I kind of thought the internal dialogue Alice had with herself all throughout got a little monotonous, but perhaps that was made more evident in the audio version. Every time she went to say something she said things to herself first. Then they were often repeated. It just fell flat a bit for me.
The twist near the end was definitely unexpected, but maybe was a bit over-the-top compared to the rest of the more realistic story. There at least was redemption and a nice crisp bow tied up events at the conclusion.
The narration was done well with easy-to-understand diction and tones.
Thanks to NetGalley and Red Raven Publishing for this ARL. All opinions are mine.

Thank you Red Raven Publishing and Netgalley for this audiobook!

The narrator was AMAZING! The variations between characters was perfection. The pacing was slightly slow but an easy fix with audio players. The emotional states of the characters were portrayed well.

Overall the story was intriguing, spooky, and I needed to know what would happen next. The plot twist was well done. There was enough subtle foreshadowing that I didn't catch it too early and it didn't seem unrealistic just for shock value. The portrayal of abuse, parenting, and trauma were well done in my opinion. Alice was consistently second guessing herself and paranoid which fits after years of gas lighting and crazy making from James. I appreciate that Lucas' trauma wasn't magically healed, that he was written in a way that allows him to heal in his own time. Spoilers removed, please check Fable or Goodreads for my full review.

I did not understand the hide and seek scene. As paranoid as Alice is, it didn't fit her personality to have the kids run off and hide. I think having Grayson and his brother play on their own without her suggesting it might have made more sense?

There were a few parts that dragged a little bit and some that felt a bit rushed but overall it was an interesting, quick and easy read.

Beneath These Walls is a suspensefully addictive ride. I was not able to put it down. This is my second book by Shade Owens and I am definitely reading anything she writes. I love how effortlessly this story flowed, how the suspense was a constant build, the content was intense and just impossible to look away from. There are some difficult topics in this book so please check your triggers if you have any !

The characters are such a strong suit in this book. Alice/Emma was relatable, not necessarily likeable at every turn, but it made everything feel more real. The plot was intricately constructed, a complex puzzle where the pieces were uncovered one by one. There were multiple directions it could go, multiple suspicions, I kept changing my mind over and over. Nothing could've prepared me for those twists and turns.

Overall, this was a highly enjoyable and suspenseful read that had me absolutely consumed. It will leave you saying just one more chapter until the very end !

🎧 The narration by Amanda Davidson was great. She left a constant feeling of dread and suspense hanging in the air. She had the right tone to keep the story engaging and mysterious. I really enjoyed it!

✨️Thank you to @netgalley, @redravenpublishing & @shadeowensfor my gifted ALC in exchange for an honest review.

Beneath These Walls by Shade Owens, With the great performance by Amanda Davidson makes it so hard to give this book a low rating she is such a stellar narrator. The story is about Alice leaving her abusive husband and at the same time, she is left a beautiful Victorian house by her uncle in a town called Thorn Lake. she sees the house as a safe haven for the year she is forced to live there during the succession and despite changing her name is still fearful of her husband finding them. it doesn’t help that the home she lives in is known as one where strange things happened something her reclusive uncle didn’t help to dispel while living. of course soon after moving in Alice/Emma notices a man that watches her house for hours and then she starts finding strange notes around the home. This is nothing compared to playing hide go seek and her seven year old son Lucas finding a dead body in a hideaway room off the seller something that causes him to stop speaking. all this and she still fearful of her husband Mark finding them. OK let me start by saying I was 38% in and wanted to DNF this book, but once again I’m glad I finished it. This woman is as dumb as a box of rocks not to mention I found the book was written IDK… And such an odd fashion. when the book 1st started I thought this was definitely written by a Gen X or because in the beginning she says they agreed she would stay home with their children while he started a business but then she gets upset because he doesn’t come home until seven or 8 o’clock. The reason I found this odd is because when you start a business it takes lots and lots of men hours but either way onto the next thing then it seemed when he came home she would start arguments… I am not blaming the victim I just think the way this was written either didn’t come off to me the way the author intended or it was purposefully ridiculous. I don’t even want to get into her hypervigilance once they moved because that was out of the box and ridiculous as well. I mean a man in the parking lot waves to her and she debates pulling a gun on him… It’s really? I do want to say however in other people‘s reviews they said this book ending was predictable but I must be as dumb as the main character because I did not see the perpetrator being the perpetrator and I do read a lot of books like this. I thought Alice/Emma‘s move at the end it was a brilliant one so all in all I thought the main character and the things she did was so stupid on many accounts but the ending was a good one and so I would still definitely recommend this book. there were many twist in the book I just found the writing style to be odd Emma/Alice’s reactions to normal situations were odd but no one else mentioned this in their review so it may just be me and I did ultimately enjoy how it ended. A totally OK read#NetGalley, #RedRavenPublishing,#TheBlindReviewer, #MyHonestReview, #ShadeOwens, #BeneathTheseWalls,!

This book is definitely a good thriller, the twists might have been a bit predictable but the story was engrossing. The beginning started off slow so it did take me a while to get into the book, but there were moments when they move to the new house and her son becomes mute that I was constantly asking questions inside my head and was on the edge of my seat.

Even though I’ve never been in the position of the FMC, her character seemed so relatable. The controlling husband, the worry for her kids, for herself, for their future, and how she feels trapped and out of options. Domestic violence can be tricky to articulate in a respectful and relatable way, but the author does it wonderfully.

The controlling husband was also very well done as well. The back and forth of his moods, his attempts to reconcile his relationship with his wife after their first breakup, but then his descent back into the behavior that his wife knows all too well.

I did feel the build up took a long time and I found myself eager to get to the scary/thrilling elements, but then when we got to the end I felt it was over rather quickly. I definitely wanted more, but I didn’t guess the twist at the end AT ALL so that kept me happy!

The narrator also did a good job evoking the seriousness and almost dire emotion of the FMC. I really felt like I was put right into the emotions of the characters because of the narrator’s voice and her ability to convey the fear and desperation so (seemingly) easily and effortlessly.

First off thank you so much for approving my request. I am a huge Shade Owen’s fan!

I absolutely devoured this audiobook. I mean, less than one day I had it start to finish because I needed to know.

Okay; that aside.

The Narrator is amazing! She was perfect for this book, and speaks clearly and with enunciation that I only wish all audiobook narrators could achieve. She managed to portray emotions without slipping on her verbal enunciation. 100% amazing.

The book itself is so good! While I did guess early on the Teacher was behind the notes, I was shocked to find out that was actually the case, and I don’t know if everyone would come to the same conclusion or if I just had that weird feeling.

Anyway, I loved how it all wrapped up and was so nicely done! The epilogue cleared up a lot of loose threads which was so awesome.

Firstly, I do listen to lots of audiobooks, but this was difficult. The books is great but it was hard to keep focus due to the narration. Amanda Davidson speaks as if she’s whispering and exhausted at the same time and it was hard to distinguish between time zones. I would choose not to listen to anymore by this narrator as she did not keep me engaged.

The story overall is really good and whilst I had kind of figured out where the story was going it was well delivered.

I will read more by this author but defo not by the narrator

Beneath These Walls by Shade Owen is a gripping and suspenseful thriller that masterfully blends family drama with supernatural intrigue. The story follows a woman, recently escaping a near-death experience at the hands of her abusive husband, as she seeks refuge with her two sons in an old Victorian house passed down by her uncle. While the house offers physical safety, its eerie reputation and the whispers surrounding her uncle’s mysterious past quickly shatter the illusion of peace.

Owen skillfully builds tension throughout the novel as strange and horrific events unfold in the house, forcing the protagonist to confront not only her fears but also the secrets that might be hidden within its walls. The chilling atmosphere of the house is palpable, and as the stakes rise, the sense of isolation and danger becomes almost suffocating. The mother's determination to protect her children serves as the emotional core of the story, grounding the more supernatural elements in raw, relatable emotion.

This book is a dark, page-turning tale that examines the lengths a mother will go to for her children, even in the face of unseen, supernatural forces. The combination of suspense, mystery, and horror, alongside the deeply personal struggles of the protagonist, makes Beneath These Walls a compelling read for fans of psychological thrillers with a touch of the eerie. It’s a haunting exploration of survival, the past’s influence on the present, and the primal instincts that drive us to protect those we love.

Beneath These Walls is a suspenseful domestic thriller with several twists. I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what was coming next. This kept the thoroughly entertained while putting my puzzle together.

I really enjoyed the narration for this book, Amanda Davidson did a fantastic job.

Alice and her sons move into an old Victorian house to escape her abusive husband. However, they soon discover the house has a dark past and strange things start happening, putting them in danger. Despite the risks, Alice is determined to protect her children at all costs.

I am a devoted fan of Shade Owens! I admire the suspenseful writing style infused with darkness. This book delves into many triggering topics, so if you are sensitive to certain themes, I recommend doing some research beforehand. The content is intense and captivating, making it incredibly difficult to set aside.

The main character is relatable, yet not easily likable. Given all that Alice has endured, it is understandable that she is not warm and fuzzy. Instead, she is portrayed as a strong, well-rounded, and fiercely protective mother. It is impossible not to root for Alice and her children, yearning for a resolution that is both reasonable and satisfying.

As the story progresses, the complexity deepens, leaving me wondering how the plot could become even more intricate. The narrative covers dark themes that may not appeal to everyone, as it relentlessly delves into the challenges Alice faces. You find yourself eagerly anticipating a moment of respite for her to rise above her struggles.

The narrator skillfully brought the book to life, leaving a lasting impression that I won't soon forget. I found it challenging to pause the story, when necessary, as it was so engrossing. This is the kind of audiobook that compels you to binge-listen, as the suspense builds to a point where you can hardly catch your breath. I highly recommend adding Shade Owens to your TBR list - any of Shade Owen's books will not disappoint. This book was intense and dark, and I hope more readers will discover its gripping narrative.

Thank you, Red Raven Publishing, for the digital ARC copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

There was a lot in here that wasn't particularly believable. I mean you can take paranoia too far.
Not everyone is out to get you for no good reason.
Despite that, I enjoyed this audiobook.
The narration was good, and there was decent pacing.
I liked the change up towards the end, to get different points of view.
Kept me entertained on many a dull commute.

3.5 🌟

My second book of the day by the author and again the story was strong, the characters (mostly) were well developed and relatable, there were a few moments when I thought we might be crossing over into horror territory.

Again with this title I did find some aspects to be repetitive and the twists to be predictable but I still enjoyed it.

The audio narration by Amanda Davidson was really good.

Huge thanks to Red Raven Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this audiobook 🎧